updated 11:45 am EST, Tue February 26, 2008

Less life on new MacBooks?

(Updated with perspective) Apple's new MacBook systems technically list lower battery life than the previous generation, official specifications show. setteB.ITnotes that despite the fact that the computers use Intel's new 45nm Penryn technlogy, which should be more power-efficient, each of the new machines "loses" an hour or more of operating time. The reduction in battery life is actually an illusion however, as Apple did not previously incorporate wireless functions into its estimates.

The new basic MacBook operates at 55W, for instance, but under Apple's revised projections falls to a maximum of 4.5 hours versus six. The 15.4-inch version of the MacBook Pro is rated at 60W, and suffers the least, shrinking from six hours to five. The 17-inch Pro is a 68W system, and drops from 5.75 hours of use to 4.5.

Revised

My 1st gen MBP 17" doesn't meet the specs for the machine at the time, and I get less life out of a battery charge than Apple claimed at time of purchase. I agree with others that Apple may have changed the way they measure this.

I also noticed a change in battery performance (other on the Apple discussions also noticed it), on upgrading to Leopard. Not sure if this may have a bearing.

not only that....

With wireless???

It is clear that 4.5 hour estimate is with WiFi? That would give it quite some more time on an airplane, where WiFi and BT are off. If all you do is work on some slide shows or text reports, with brightness turned way down, you could fly from NYC to Paris (a 7 hour flight) and not even run out of juice (with takeoff, final approach, meal service shaving off an hour or two). Watching ripped movies would probably flex the CPU muscle a bit more, for a little less time, but still most likely longer than 4.5 hours.

I can't remember getting anywhere near this amount of time from a ThinkPad (same screen size).

my mbp

show the testing

Maybe Apple has just revised their estimated battery life numbers to be closer to real-world usage numbers?
totally agree with that statement. Though I really would like to see the test that Apple runs to get their estimates. I would just like to see them reproduce the results that they are talking about. It is clear that they are now including wireless being turned on when they are talking about wireless on battery life. What is not clear is the brightness level of the screen, what is included in "wireless" (i.e. Bluetooth and WIFI) and what is there use? Using BT with a wireless keyboard is one thing, but using it to transfer data is another. Basically, I am wondering if Apple figured out a real world use to finally figure out battery-life it purports before they get into a legal battle with customers about false claim at the class action level. Transparency is what we want.